The Solar Charkha Mission of the Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), will be launched by the President, Ram Nath Kovind on June 27, 2018 in New Delhi. The Mission will cover 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans. The Mission has been approved by the Government of India and will disburse subsidy of Rs. 550 crore to the artisans.

The Minister further informed that 15 new state-of-the-art technology centers are being set up all over the country including North-East, of which 10 centers will become operational by March 2019. Each center is being built at a cost of around Rs. 150 crore. The 10 centers which will become operational soon are located in Durg (Chhattisgarh), Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Rohtak (Haryana), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Sitarganj (Uttarakhand), Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Bhopal (M.P.), Kanpur (U.P.) and Puducherry.

What are Solar charkha?

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has finalised a project to introduce solar “charkhas” (spinning wheels) across the country and produce “green clothes”.

Khadi is essentially hand-spun, hand-woven cloth and will now have technological help to assist the production with solar power. The project involves introduction of 100,000 such “charkhas”, each costing around Rs 20,000, every year.

Generally one spins the “charkha” wheel with the hand. In the new model, there are solar panels, which would draw solar power. The solar panels are connected to a battery, which stores power.

Rhe solar ‘charkhas’ would help not only to spin effortlessly but the spinners can also earn double their present earnings, from Rs 60 per day to Rs 150 per day.